Can I Get A Witness??

Father's Day 2007. Lessons learned. Lessons taught. Here's a recap - the morning after.

1. The food at Line Camp (www.linecampsteakhouse.com) Saturday night was absolutely delicious. Too rich and eating too much caused one sick tummy. It's still haunting me.

2. It is no secret that I love teaching. What some know/expect and others don't is that I write most of the Bible study material that I use. Needless to say..... a lot of time gets invested. I work on it throughout the course of the week with the final wrap-up taking place after hubby leaves on Sunday mornings. That's when I finally print. Well, yesterday blank pages came out of the printer. Not out of ink mind you..... Apparently, I didn't listen to what was originally laid out for me at the start of the week. I took the blank pages with an open heart and mind. We must stay teachable. Yes, us teachers too.

3. Don't announce "No Tie Summer" and then wear ties. You will get rebuked. Just ask Randal, David and hubby. It happened before the first service started. So apparently, some people do read their worship folders and pay attention to the announcements on the big screens as they come in. As most know... hubby is more comfortable in blue jeans and boots. Ask Randal about the suit he had on yesterday. Props to him for all the weight he has lost.

4. Randal delivered a good sermon on a dad's responsibilities. Good... not great.. He was feeling bad and it showed. Besides... it didn't help that the insert for sermon notes had the answers already filled in. The video of the guy learning to a tie was good as was the thank you to dads. Props to Randal for hangin' in. A real "Father's Day" lesson there.

5. Keep praying for David and his family. They've been here since January and still haven't sold their house in Amarillo. If you have any contacts there - please use them. They move into our highly secure gated community this week. They're ours... You can't have them unless you live here too. Please note that I am not a fan of highly secure gated communities. But I am of David, Denise and their family. And we still have security/crime issues. That's always a lesson for people to learn... no matter their age. And yes.. David is a security risk for our church. In the best of senses........ It is a crime that some people don't understand that yet. What/who is worship about again???

6. When it came time to teach... I shared with my class about the blank pages of paper. Totally went with it..... It worked out great! Better than what didn't print would have for yesterday. The class is used to having at least three sheets every Sunday: the lesson, prayer requests and praises. When we first started out, we sat on the floor with our shoes off. While the shoes do come off still - now we sit at tables brought together with Kleenex, chocolates and bottled water or diet cokes in the middle along with whatever they need for the morning's class. That goes to show the growth taking place in their lives. They asked for tables so that they could write.

7. Hubby is the easiest man to please in regards to Father's Day. Where's the proof? We had sandwiches for lunch and then he/i made homemade tacos for dinner. He doesn't need fancy meals or expensive gifts to know that he is loved. The prayer that Austin prayed at dinner - better than any Hallmark card could ever be. The hugs and time spent just hanging out with "dad" - always priceless. I thought our bed was going to break because of the laughter, tickles, and roughhousing going on.

8) Hubby did talk to his dad last night. Keep praying for him as he is still having health issues. We hope to see them some time this summer. Don't know if that will happen though. Funny how they live in Amarillo now and David's family is here. Funnier still hubby sitting in the hospital room with his dad a few weeks ago and meeting someone who had been on staff with David there. Good thing they loved his family too! Small world. Hubby's dad is retiring in December. Of course then, they won't be living in Amarillo any longer.

9) I had a couple of people ask me if it was hard celebrating Father's Day this year since my daddy was gone. Nah. One thing about daddy was that he always made a point of sharing with my brother and I who our real Father was. While he was a fantastic dad - he was never God. Dads.... please keep that in mind when raising your kids. They are only on loan. They don't really belong to you whether they are biological or not.

10) Where the witness truly comes in is that God is my Father. I don't need a certain day on the calendar to spend time with Him. Neither do you......

Now onto Monday!